February 24, 2005

Choicepoint - 700 identities attacked

As predicted, the states ganged up on Choicepoint and forced them to agree to notify all the victims of the identity thefts. Of the 145k or so identified sets of identity, 700 ... 750 have now been identified as having been (ab)used. Which leaves me confused - is the identity stolen when the data is acquired, or when the data is used to commit a fraud?

Adam points to widening ripples of turmoil as the thought permeates of remote, inattantive and disinterested parties amass massive databases on everyone. My guess: the US will suddenly have a love affair with European-style data privacy directives, as the deal with the risks and interests. Whoops: spoke too soon.